New Family Traditions

Sandy Pickar, Sisterhood Co-President

By the time you read this the “holidays” will be almost over, but as I write I am smiling at memories our family have created for ourselves over several years. Some of my six grandchildren celebrate a formal Christmas with their other family, others don’t, but usually late on the 25th or early on the 26th our whole gang is together in some fun setting.

I always have gelt for everyone even if Hanukkah is long gone, but several years ago one of the grandkids – the only girl in the bunch – came up with a great She called it Mysterious Maccabee and it goes like this: names are tossed into a hat and everyone present – usually 12 people – picks a (If this sounds suspiciously like Secret Santa you’d be right!)

Each person has about four days to buy that person a present. (The two youngest still need help in making their selections.) Amount spent per gift, somewhere between $20 to $30, but no more. On the ﬁnal night before we all go our separate ways, we sit around and, one by one, open our gifts. There is only one each, so we make a big production with lots of humorous comments about each.

Once that’s done we turn to New Year’s. There is a strict list of prediction categories. Someone ﬁnds last year’s and we see how well or usually poorly we predicted. Then we start in with this year’s predictions for the following year, ensuring another gathering.

Happy New Year to everyone! May all your family traditions, old and new be as joyful…

Now on to some practical Sisterhood business: Don’t forget to sign up for Create! Hydrate! Fill your Plate! on Sunday, January 27th. This time it’s a cooking demonstration by the master himself (and honorary Sisterhood member) Eliot Swartz. Also, don’t forget to note that Sisterhood’s annual Circle of Service Luncheon is on Sunday, February 10, 2019. I am Chairing this year and it will be at my house. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.